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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 01/04/2004 9:47:12 AM PST by JohnnyZ
The state Republican chairman has issued a statement questioning Rep. Richard Morgan’s “new face” and criticizing him for a legislative redistricting plan drawn up under his watch as co-speaker of the N.C. House.
But Morgan, R-Moore, dismisses the faultfinding as “a light scolding” and says the chairman is being urged on by lawyers in the background.
The comments by Ferrell Blount, head of the state Republican Party, were contained in a news release issued on the North Carolina Republican Party letterhead.
Blount wrote that the state party “has been clear and unequivocal in its position regarding the redistricting controversy.” He said the party has been consistent in asking for a “level playing field” when it comes to drawing up politically neutral districts that protect community interest and respect traditional government boundaries.
“I would humbly suggest that Speaker Morgan look to his left and to his right and see with whom he is standing,” Blount said. “The Republican Party, its leadership and its members support constitutional redistricting maps. We have yet to see such an animal emerge from the legislature. We have never masked where we stood on this issue or any other.”
Morgan shrugged off the criticism, even going on the offensive.
“It may be a scolding, but it’s a light scolding,” he said. “I’ve spent 30 years building the Republican Party in North Carolina. For most of that time, Ferrell Blount was a Democrat.”
Blount was quoted in response to statements by Morgan in connection with the redistricting approved during a November special session of the N.C. General Assembly. Morgan was quoted in the Under the Dome column in The News & Observer of Raleigh, and he also spoke later with The Pilot.
“I look to my right, and I see the Republican chairman of the Redistricting Committee,” he said. “And I look to the left, and I see the Republican majority leader, who was elected unanimously, and we all three look out in front of us and see a majority of the members of the Republican Caucus, who voted for the House redistricting plan, and we sort of wonder why Ferrell Blount isn’t standing with us.”
A group of Republicans, including former state GOP chair Bill Cobey, Senate Republican Leader Patrick Ballantine and former Republican House Leader Leo Daughtry, has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the redistricting maps.
The suit also challenged an accompanying bill that calls on the chief justice of the state Supreme Court to appoint a panel of three Superior Court judges to decide redistricting issues, rather than allowing the plaintiffs to seek out a judge of their preference, as was done last year.
Blount recently joined the plaintiffs in the suit. Cobey and Ballantine are both seeking the Republican nomination for governor, and Daughtry is an old legislative foe of Morgan.
In the news release, Blount questions the constitutionality of the newest legislative redistricting maps and accuses the state House of Representatives of hiding “issues of great importance” from the House membership “until the last minute.”
‘No Importance’
But Morgan said Tuesday that what Blount said in the news release “has no importance” and suggested instead that it was “probably driven by lawyers in these redistricting suits.”
Morgan says the problem is a lack of effective leadership in the party.
“It’s really not strong leadership,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is build up the Republican Party in North Carolina.”
“Maybe he was a little premature,” Morgan said of Blount’s comments about the redistricting lawsuit.
Morgan says that one of his attorneys, K. Edward Greene, has advised him that the latest court rulings support the position of those favoring the redistricting plan.
Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood of Franklin County on Monday ruled that a law passed in November by the legislature is constitutional, opening the way for Supreme Court Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr. to appoint a panel of three Superior Court judges to hear the lawsuits.
“It looks like a win-win for the position I’ve taken, which I believe is ultimately for the good of the Republican Party,” Morgan said. “I doubt that news release would have been issued if their lawyers hadn’t been there.”
Cites Tradition
Morgan also had questions about Blount’s reasoning on the redistricting plan. He says that Blount was in the room, along with others, during the redistricting process and was aware of the direction of the plan. But later, he said, Blount called Morgan’s political consultant and the consultant serving Congressman Richard Burr and asked for a specific redistricting change that would have placed two Mecklen-burg County senators in the same district.
“I didn’t feel that was right,” Morgan said.
Morgan says it is a longstanding rule in the legislature that “the House doesn’t mess with the Senate (districting) map, and the Senate doesn’t mess with the House map.”
Morgan dismisses the comments of Blount as insignificant to most Republicans. He defends his position on the redistricting map.
“Better than a majority of the Republican caucus voted for the redistricting plan,” he says.
Morgan says that actions taken by the state party leadership are taken seriously by many activists but that regular voters are little concerned with such issues.
“For the most part, rank-and-file Republicans don’t pay much attention to such squabbling and to party leaders,” Morgan said. “If that was so, I wouldn’t have made to the House.”
Blount closed his statement with a reference to last summer’s state party convention, which voted to censure Morgan for cooperating with Democrats. Morgan did not attend the convention, held in Charlotte.
“If Speaker Morgan desires to change the face of the Republican Party, he should not miss the next state convention so that all Republicans can see his vision for the new Republican Party,” Blount said. “After all, this is not the House of Representatives where issues of great importance are kept hidden from voting members until the last minute. At the state convention, unlike the House, debate will be allowed so that Republicans can share their thoughts on Speaker Morgan’s new face.”
The state House of Representatives elected its first co-speakers early this year when the House found itself in stalemate with 60 members from each party.
Because it was clear neither party would bend to elect someone from the opposing party, a coalition between the parties was developed to promote the concept of sharing speakership duties with one speaker from each party. It was the first time in state history that the House has elected co-speakers.
Second Set of Maps
However, Leo Daughtry, a former House Republican leader, was the frontrunner for the speakership early in the session. He was toppled from that position when Morgan received backing from a group of Republicans and was ultimately elected as the GOP speaker. The result has been formation of a strong opposition force to Morgan’s position.
The current set of redistricting suits is the second since the original plan was adopted following the 2000 Census. At that time, a group of Republicans took issue with the redistricting plan originally adopted by the legislature and took the case directly to Superior Court Judge Knox Jenkins of Johnston County, who found the plan unconstitutional because it broke too many county lines to form new districts.
This meant that the legislature was required to hold another special session and to come up with a new plan, based on the judge’s findings. But, because the state constitution requires the legislature, not the judiciary, to develop the redistricting maps, the legislature was required to meet again late this year to draw up a new plan. However, the new plan is being challenged by a group of Republicans.
Democrats, although they felt a number of losses in the new plan, are not a party to the suit.
Representatives of both parties, state leaders and elections officials are eager for the issue to be resolved quickly. Otherwise, this election year may be another one in which the filing period and the primary elections are delayed for an unspecified period.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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To add to jern's comment, Morgan wholeheartedly supported a redistricting plan which would specifically target his conservative Republican opponents, redistricting pairs of incumbent GOPers together, and generally helping the Democrats.
(LOL!)
Rules Committee is the most powerful. The Chair basically decides what legislation reaches the floor. He is the gatekeeper.
Way to go Morgan.
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